


The truth of the matter

by SuperPotterWhoLock367



Series: BtVS series [2]
Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: BAMF Xander Harris, Gen, I'll tw the chapter, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Insecurity, Its only light though, Self-Hatred, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-26
Updated: 2020-07-01
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:53:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24925720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SuperPotterWhoLock367/pseuds/SuperPotterWhoLock367
Summary: A little fix-it for a few episodes because Xander deserves more credit.It's within my BtVS series but more like a ficlet.I'll tag the child abuse but its really mildly referenced in chapter 3, that chapter isn't super important if you want to skip it though! There are mild references throughout the rest of the chapters, but nothing serious.I'll update the tags with pairings if I end up with them.
Relationships: Xander Harris & Willow Rosenberg & Buffy Summers
Series: BtVS series [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1751884
Comments: 6
Kudos: 15





	1. Travel

The three young adults ran after the horrific-looking demon, weapons out. 

“Yes Buffy, it’s only a small demon Buffy, we don’t need back-up Buffy, just like old times sake” Buffy panted out at her friends, half-joking, half-serious. 

Willow gave a flat look, re-doubling her efforts to catch up. “Yeah, but it was you that insisted that we didn’t need Giles!” 

Xander ignored the pair and split, the demon was going to head down a small ally way and he needed to provide a slight distraction. He skidded to a halt at the end of the passage and swung his axe in preparation. Hofshnur, the demon, came bolting down the small street and tried to skid as it saw Xander. It spun and tried to back up but the girls came round the corner right at that moment in time. Hofshnur panicked, and in a move too quick for the Scoobies eyes to see, cast a brilliant white light at them. It connected and they startled in fear, but then realised that nothing had happened.  
With a quick move, Buffy stabbed the demon through the chest, ending its pitiful existence. Willow and Xander joined her, throwing their arms up and over her in a friendly, group hug. That’s all they could do before that same white light over-took their eyes, then everything went black. 

1999 (graduation year) 

Willow blearily looked around. *That’s funny, it almost looks like the old Sunnydale library* She chuckled. She slowly pushed herself upright then blinked the fog away. *That’s odd. The library usually disappears when I’ve woken up* She stood and the realisation hit. This was.... bad to say the least. She was stood in the High School library again? But that was blown up on graduation day. She pinched her arm, then shook it out at the pain. It was real alright but that meant... time travel? 

Willow was just making an itemised list in her head of events that she couldn’t change when the double doors burst open and Buffy screeched into the room. “Willow? Where’s Giles? We have a problem!” 

Willow grinned. “Would your problem be a case of time travel? Cause I have that problem too-OOF!” 

She let out a loud huff of air as Buffy crashed into her, holding her in a tight hug. They stood there, comforting each other, then mentally went through the last events of the future that they could remember. 

Buffy spoke out loud eventually, “I recall being hit by that light, then slaying the demon, then you and Xander came over to give me a hug and that’s the last thing I remember - wait” 

They looked at each other in horror. If they had come back after that hug, then, “Xander!” 

The double doors opened at that second, with the male in question stumbling in. “I hear yas, what's up?” 

Willow and Buffy both ran over to hug him hard. He was confused but dropped his hands onto their shoulders and gave them whatever comfort he could. 

“What’s going on ladies?" He asked, confused at the sudden movement. They both stepped back and looked down. 

“Xander, what’s the last thing you remember?” 

Xander shrugged. 

“Going to the vending machine to get some soda, why?” 

Both of the girls faces dropped. They quickly explained the situation, then Willow turned to ring up Giles, whilst Buffy wandered the shelves, reminiscing. Neither noticed the flash of white-green in Xander’s eyes as he remembered everything, but they heard his gasp and saw his and move to his head. Willow quickly made amends to Giles.

"All three of us have somehow travelled, can you help?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here is chapter 2!! Enjoy!

Xander scrubbed a hand over his eyes roughly. It had been hard-few days, with a spree of killings. All the victims had been found with their eyes removed, hearts torn in two and their tongues ripped out. Giles had hypothesised that it was the work of a witch, using a “See no evil, Speak no evil” hex but Xander wasn’t sure. He had seen that hex before, while in Africa, and knew that it left its victims alive when cast properly. 

He looked up from the books as the rest of the Scoobies entered, laughing and joking. After explaining whole time-travel thing to Giles and Faith, he felt that they were closer as a family, but he knew deep down that he would never be more than the Zeppo, the doughnut boy. Jack had ruined his little amount of self-esteem, and old thoughts had resurfaced. He shrugged off that train of thought and grinned at them. 

“Hey, how was the hunt?” He asked. Buffy came and dropped into a chair, causing him to give a light flinch, as the move reminded him of the times when his father came home having been fired. He missed the concerned look that Giles flashed at him, and the glance exchanged between Willow and Faith at the move. All the others had noticed something up with him. He was just grateful that future Willow and Buffy had never known about his awful home life. 

Buffy sighed. “No good, we couldn’t find a single witchy or hellspawn around.” She rolled her eyes. “It's like they’ve all been given the night off!” 

Xander chuckled and turned back to his book, tiredly looking over the pages. He sucked at research, but they all believed him to be too weak still to go on a hunt. He hated that they had so little faith in him but saw why they would believe that. 

He checked his watch and stood up. 

“I’ve gotta call it a night I’m afraid, my parents will kill me if I’m not home soon.” He tried not to think about how they would lock the door and windows, forcing him to stay outside if he wasn’t back or forbid him from eating from their kitchen for a few days. 

He grabbed his bag and set off out the library calling a light goodbye to everyone as he stepped out. Once out the main doors, he grabbed his straps and sprinted, he was going to be late if he wasn’t careful. 

What he didn’t know was that immediately after he left, the rest of the scoobies sat to discuss what could be bothering him.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW - DESCRIPTION OF CHILD ABUSE. THIS CHAPTER IS SKIPPABLE

As Xander pelted home he considered how he should behave. Should he beat his father up or behave all subservient? He soon had his answer when he came in sight of the house, its door still slightly ajar. He slipped into the hallway and made his way through to the kitchen, intending to creep into his basement, only for his way to be blocked by his stinking, drunken father. 

“You’re late boy, to busy sucking off you librarian to come home on time hm? You’re so useless, we shoulda dumped you in the river when you were born you worthless little brat.” 

His dad lay into him, the first blow catching his cheek and the tight wedding ring he wore leaving a crescent-shaped gash. Xander dropped and lay still as his father whaled on him a few more times, before waddling off to sit in the living room to watch TV. 

After a few beats, to make sure his dad was suitably distracted, Xander hauled himself to his feet and stumbled through the kitchen, ignoring his mothers slumped, drunken form. He made his way down to the basement and curled up his bed, aching. He only hoped that his excuse would hold tomorrow, he had hit himself on the door handle. It had worked before. 

As he drifted off into sleep, a light whisper echoed through his head. 

~Do not worry, little alpha, everything will be okay~ 

He dreamed that night, of the vast plains of Africa, of the people he had lost and found, grieved deaths that were yet to happen, of jokes that were never to be said. 

He woke, tear tracks on his face, but with his soul feeling light and free for the first time since Jesse. 

He dressed and slipped silently out of the house, passed his drunken father's unconscious body, headed for an interesting day at school.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short, sweet, and going to get edited when I have fully uploaded the story. Enjoy!!

As Xander headed into school the next day, he braced himself for an inquisition. His dad didn’t usually hit above clothing level, so his bruised arm from where he was grabbed, and his cut face were on display. As he jogged up the steps, he saw Buffy and Faith chilling on some of the benches next to the main doors. Willow was sat next to them, laughing about something. He faltered, wondering if slipping around them would work, then sighed and strolled over. 

“Good morning, lovely ladies, and welcome to a brand-new day in hell! Today we will be stuck doing our penance for existing in the school system!” Damn, that sounded weak. 

Faith looked up at him and her eyes widened. “Damn X-Man, what did you do to your face?” Buffy and Willow also stared. He chuckled.

“I decided to go head to handle with the knob on my bedroom door, unfortunately, it won.” 

Willow giggled and Buffy snorted. Faith gave him a calculating look, and he cursed himself. Xander plopped down on the bench next to Willow. 

“What’s today's torture then? Whips? Chains? Calculus?” 

Buffy grimaced. “Even worse – Physics.” 

Xander dramatically clutched at his chest, playfully flopping backwards like he had been stabbed. His sleeve fell up and the hand-shaped bruised flashed visible for a second before he changed position again. He moaned and wailed in fear and the girls burst into laughter. 

The first bell went and they gathered their stuff up, heading towards the library to meet with Giles.  
Neither of the Slayers noticed a slim man lurking by the edge of the car park, silvery tattoo crawling down the side of his face.


End file.
